A lawyer for Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, accused Donald Trump on Wednesday of having made his client a
"pawn"
in a trade war between the United States and China.
Read also: Meng Wanzhou, the "prisoner" who angered China and Canada
Meng Wanzhou, 49, who is fighting in Canada against his extradition to the United States, is accused by Washington of having circumvented American sanctions against Iran.
The United States wants to try her for bank fraud.
The applicant has always denied these accusations.
His lawyers accuse the former American president of having
"poisoned"
the procedure by affirming in an interview at the end of 2018 that he would not hesitate to intervene in the procedure against Meng Wanzhou, if it made it possible to obtain concessions trade of China.
They argue that this intervention, as well as
"abuses"
by Canada and the United States, deprived Meng Wanzhou of his right to a fair and equitable trial, and they call for an annulment of the extradition procedure.
"Money change"
These words of the former tenant of the White House, made a few days after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, during a stopover in Vancouver on December 1, 2018, were not simple
"casual comments"
, argued Wednesday Richard Peck, lawyer for Meng Wanzhou, before the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
They were repeated
"on multiple occasions"
and taken up by other members of his government, he stressed.
"The then US president took over the extradition process in an effort to exploit Ms. Meng (...) in US trade negotiations with China,"
he said.
"Meng Wanzhou has become a bargaining chip, a pawn, in this economic competition between two world superpowers
," he added.
Allegations that lawyers for the Attorney General of Canada had asked the judge to dismiss, arguing that these statements were made by
"a president who is no longer in office, about a possible intervention which, in this case, no 'never happened'
.
Echoing Beijing's position, Peck said the United States sought to prosecute Meng Wanzhou as part of
"a concerted and coordinated effort by the US government to weaken and destroy Huawei
.
"
Relations between Ottawa and Beijing are going through an unprecedented crisis since the arrest in late 2018 in China of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and his compatriot Michael Spavor, accused of espionage, a few days after that of Meng Wanzhou.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has always denounced “arbitrary” arrests, accused Beijing on Wednesday of having
“invented”
a threat to national security to justify their arrest.